GGF Partner Says Pirate Bay Deal Unlikely to Happen

The Pirate Bay saga has taken another interesting turn as the CEO of Peerialism, the company expected to provide the file-sharing technology that will drive the site, says GGF has no money to actually make the purchase.

Global Gaming Factory CEO Hans Pandeya announced yesterday that shareholders had approved the purchase of The Pirate Bay, although it was also revealed that several investors in the deal had pulled out over the swirl of negative publicity that hung over the deal. But questions persisted, among them: Where the money would come from, how GGF would satisfy copyright holders and how the newly-legit Pirate Bay would generate money when it still doesn't have licensing arrangements in place with any movie studios or record labels.

Pandeya appeared to brush those concerns off but his counterpart at Peerialism, CEO Johan Ljungberg, has taken a slightly less optimistic approach to the matter. GGF plans to acquire Peerialism as part of its strategy for The Pirate Bay but Ljungberg said he doesn't think the deal will go down at all.

"The [shareholders] meeting gave us no direct answer at all, but based on declarations by GGF before and after the meeting, and the reporting that has taken place in recent days, we conclude that GGF will not succeed in obtaining any financing," he said.

"The mechanism that GGF presented - a pledge of shares as collateral for financing - will be difficult if the stock is trading halted. And if I understand AktieTorget rules, the suspension will remain for a couple of weeks," he continued. "This makes the plan difficult to implement within the time frame of our contract."

According to the terms of the deal, GGF must pay the full purchase price for Peerialism by the end of September, but Ljungberg said he doesn't think it's likely to happen, adding that even he doesn't know who GGF's potential investors are.